Elvis snared

Nice sunrise while going hunting with Mia.

Elvis had a close call Saturday afternoon when he became snared while partridge hunting. Two things saved him – one, as a Spinone who doesn’t run big, he wasn’t far away when he became snared and two, he didn’t fight the snare.

Mia hunting, 11-30-13.

The day began taking Mia on an with an early morning hunt but after a couple of hours without seeing anything, I returned home and exchanged her for Doc and Elvis. Judging from the amount of shooting that was going on, geese hunters were doing well but there was no sign of ducks or Pheasant.

Elvis and Doc braced for the first time, worked well together.

This was the first time I braced Doc and Elvis and the brothers did very well together. We were about half a mile from the truck when Doc and Elvis became very interested in something in the sagebrush. It was a curious excitement rather than a birdy excitement so I called them back. Doc returned but Elvis seemed to be hung up on something. Thankfully he didn’t fight it but stood and waited for me.

Elvis and Doc braced for the first time.

I could see a steel cable before I got to him and thought that perhaps a wire had caught on his cooling vest. The cable was a snare and was already very tight around his neck. It took a little doing but I was able to get my fingers under the noose but couldn’t loosen it; it was a simple tension locking type that tightened when tension was placed on it. I tried working it for a minute or two without luck but then found that by tightening the snare, it released the tension on the lock. I tightened the snare around Elvis’ neck slightly which released the lock and by holding it, opened the snare and pulled it over Elvis’ head.

A beaver carcass was used to draw animals, probably coyotes, into the snare.

After he was free, I hooked the snare to a sage bush and then noticed the carcass of a large beaver had attracted them. The beaver had been placed as bait and the snare strategically located for catching coyotes. After the snare incident, we hunted for another hour or so without seeing any sign of birds, so the partridge have either died off or moved out. This was where I took Mia hunting on the opening day of partridge season and both times found no trace of birds so I’ll cross it off my hunting locations for the next several years.

This is the snare that caught Elvis, a steel cable with a tension lock. One of the dangers you don’t necessarily think about while hunting.

It certainly wasn’t marked, which makes me believe that it wasn’t set up by a legitimate trapper. I know trappers need to buy permits like hunting licenses and are good about marking their traps. The trapper organization here as well as the trappers I’ve met seem to be very good about being safe with their traps. I don’t think any of them use snares.

That is one thing that scares me about hunting or even just running in the forest this time of year. I understand trapping/snaring, but the trappers need to be careful of dogs getting caught too. Glad it turned out OK.

I’m surprised by the number of people whose dogs have been caught in traps and I personally don’t agree with it, especially after Elvis was snared. However I’ve turned a blind eye to “preserve a tradition”, but the more damage and dangers I see, the more I’m opposed to it.